Serena Perrone

I am a multidisciplinary artist based between Atlanta and Sicily who uses motifs culled from architecture, landscape, decorative arts, and natural phenomena as metaphors to explore the multi-faceted symptoms of dislocation. As an Associate Professor at Georgia State University, I hold an M.F.A. from the Rhode Island School of Design. My work has been collected by numerous major institutions, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Cleveland Museum of Art. I have received grants from South Arts, Idea Capital, the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, and was a Pew Fellowship nominee.

Artist residencies include the Flatbed Center for Contemporary Printmaking in Austin, Texas; C.R.E.T.A. Rome; the Scuola Internazionale di Grafica in Venice; The Common Press in Philadelphia; the Vermont Studio Center; and a four-month apprenticeship at the Fabric Workshop and Museum in Philadelphia. Recent solo exhibitions include the Flatbed Center for Contemporary Printmaking, the University of Wyoming Museum of Art, SPRING/BREAK New York, the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, and the Print Center in Philadelphia. Upcoming solo exhibitions include Museo Regionale Archeologico Antonio Salinas in Palermo and Whitespace’s Peepspace in Atlanta. Notable group exhibitions include Fondazione Oelle (Catania); CICA Museum (Korea); the Mint Museum (North Carolina); Delaware Contemporary (Wilmington); PAFA Museum (Philadelphia); RISD Museum (Providence); Cleveland Museum of Art; Detroit Institute of Art; Philadelphia Museum of Art; Municipal Gallery of Piraeus (Greece); Museum of Contemporary Art Georgia (Atlanta); Red Lab Gallery (Lecce); and the International Print Center New York.

I am the Founder and Director of the international multidisciplinary artist’s residency program Officina Stamperia del Notaio in Tusa, where I also maintain a studio practice. I am represented by Cade Tompkins Projects in Providence, Rhode Island and a member of the artist collectives Progetto Vicinanze (Italy) and Ground Floor Contemporary (Birmingham, Alabama).


Artist Statement

As a dual US/Italian citizen who splits my time between the two, a large part of my practice aims at reconciling a tacit and circumspect desire to filter stories and landscapes through a reflexively nostalgic and mythic lens. Often taking cues from literature and art history, my multidisciplinary practice conveys a sense of wonder and trepidation when confronting the landscape and natural phenomena, particularly instances of geologic upheaval and celestial events that can be both catastrophic and regenerative. These events have been viewed as portents and omens throughout human history. I am drawn to their potent metaphoric and poetic potential in service of my narrative impulse and a desire to uncover hidden stories, preserve fleeting moments, and explore symptoms of dislocation.

Placing emphasis on instances of contradiction, mystery, and duality, varied bodies of work are unified by the use of color and recurring symbols, relying heavily on process, workmanship, and decoration.

I am known for works that take somewhat unconventional approaches to traditional mediums ranging from printmaking and photography, sculpture and installation (casting, ceramics, glass, and textile), and text-based works that loosely echo pre-existing historical examples. My recent focus has been on transforming found objects and symbolic forms from material culture to respond to contradictions I observe in my experiences with dislocation. Materially significant interpretations of these themes can take shape as etchings and drawings, experimental photographic works, hand-carved sculptures, or alterations, traces, impressions, and castings of existing found objects in the landscape, recomposed into works that permit a close lineage between objects and their narratives.

I conjure real and imagined scenarios through multi-faceted works that evoke the stories and histories of specific yet ubiquitous sites. Strengthening my fluency of expression across disciplines, these works strike a chord between universally-felt aspects of dislocation and stories stemming from lived experiences, creating narratives that reveal the residual effects of displacement, loss, and transformation upon individuals and communities, recognizing the complex roles of discomfort, longing, and nostalgia.


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